A siege tower could also be used: a substantial structure built as high, or higher than the walls, it allowed the attackers to fire down upon the defenders and also advance troops to the wall with less danger than using ladders.

Although siege warfare had moved out from an urban setting because city walls had become ineffective against modern weapons, trench warfare was nonetheless able to utilize many of the techniques of siege warfare in its prosecution (sapping, mining, barrage and, of course, attrition) but on a much larger scale and on a greatly extended front.

In the west apart from the Battle of the Atlantic the sieges were not on the same scale as those on the European Eastern front; however, there were several notable or critical sieges: the island of Malta for which the population won the George Cross, Tobruk and Monte Cassino.

A siege is a prolonged military blockade and assault of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.

A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that refuses to surrender and cannot be easily taken by a frontal assault.

Sieges usually involve surrounding the target and blocking the provision of supplies, typically coupled with siege engines, artillery bombardment or sapping (also known as mining) to reduce fortifications.

Most of their hostages were fellow Iranians but also included embassy police guard PC Trevor Lock, BBC sound man Sim Harris, BBC news organiser Chris Cramer and tourists who had stopped by to collect visas.

Speaking through PC Lock who relayed the demands from an embassy window to police officers on the ground, they then threatened to kill the rest of the hostages and blow up the embassy if their demands were not met.

Although Iran had supported the SAS raid, it took about 13 years for a mutual compensation package to be agreed whereby the British government paid for the damage done to the Iranianembassy and Iran repaired the British embassy in Tehran damaged during the 1979 revolution.

The incoming Iranian president has already indicated he favours an uncompromising line in the talks in which the EU powers are seeking a halt to uranium enrichment activities, vital to its suspected quest for a nuclear weapon.

Back when the US embassy was seized on 4 November 1979  in retaliation for the Carter administration's refusal to hand over the exiled Shah  Mr Ahmadinejad would have been 23, about the average age of the student hostage-takers.

Militant students stormed the US embassy on 4 November 1979, taking 63 American diplomats and staff hostage in what was to become a 444-day siege that shook the confidence of the US and cost Jimmy Carter a second term as president.

All five appeared at the press launch of SAS - The Soldiers' Story to be broadcast by ITV, starting on Thursday week - wearing boiler suits, combat boots and fl balaclavas, saying they did not want to reveal their identity because they had served in Northern Ireland.

Three of the five ex-troopers attending the launch took part in the Iranianembassysiege.

The men were each paid less than £200 a day during the filming of the series but they expect to receive royalties from the sale of the accompanying book and video.

Assault on the IranianEmbassy by the Pagoda Troop 22 SAS by Graeme Lothian.

The codename for the assault on the Embassy to free the hostages was "Operation Nimrod".

For six days the siege went on with negotiations for a peaceful solution being sought by the British Government; they had decided not to sanction the use of the SAS until there was proof that the terrorists were killing hostages.

The US has challenged Iran over the alleged involvement of its new president in the 1979 seizure of American hostages in Tehran, after former captives identified him as a ringleader.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line mayor of Tehran who won a presidential run-off election last week, was identified by at least half a dozen former hostages as one of the militants who took over the US embassy in November 1979 and held 52 Americans captive for 444 days.

In Iran leaders of the embassy takeover said Mr Ahmadinejad was not part of their group, and a spokesman for the President-elect denied that he had played any role in the hostage-taking.

TEHRAN, 3 July 2005 — Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played no role in the 1979 seizure of hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran, close aides insisted yesterday, dismissing allegations of his involvement as a “propaganda war”.

Retired army Col. Charles Scott, a former hostage, told the Washington Times this week that “the new president of Iran is a terrorist.” Donald Sharer, a retired navy captain who shared a cell with Scott, remembered Ahmadinejad as “a cruel individual”.

When contacted by AFP, close aides to Ahmadinejad also insisted that Iran’s new president was not involved in the seizing or holding of the embassy and dismissed the allegations as a “propaganda war”.

Iranian operatives step up flow of weapons and training to Iraq: general

An e-mail chain recovered on Khan’s computer allowed Western intelligence agents to capture Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian al Qaeda operative who was involved in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

After the battlefield circulation briefing, Attorney General Gonzales quizzed Gen. Petraeus for awhile on what the Justice Department could be doing to help the war effort, and then the general, his staff, and I armored up, went back to the Black Hawks, and took off and suddenly as we'd appeared for the briefing.

This novel tells the story of the 1980siege of the Iranianembassy in London and the SAS operation that freed the hostages, using a combination of stun guns, sub-machine guns and 9mm high-power handguns.

It gives you a first hand account of the SAS and how they meticulously planned the operation down to the most minute detail.

It describes the storming of the embassy from a number of different soldiers viewpoints and illustrates the power of the SAS.

In the 1980, Iraqi-backed terrorists seized control of the Iranianembassy in South Kensington, London, England.

After six days and the murder of a hostage, acting on the direct orders of the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, British special forces, the Special Air Service (SAS) stormed the embassy in what was known as "Operation Nimrod".

Of the 138 George Medals awarded to Met officers, 81 (59%) were for war time activities, the number of awards by year being: 1940 - 9; 1941 - 66; 1942 - 0; 1943 -1; 1944 -5 perhaps reflecting the intensity of air raids at different stages of the war.

One award was for disarming the assailant who tried to kidnap Princess Anne (PC Hills - 1974), and one award went in 1981 to PC Trevor Lock for his part in the IranianEmbassysiege.

Four George Medals went to that gallant band of explosives officers who all defused a number of devices, one of them being killed (Donald Henderson 1976; Geoffrey Biddle - 1976; George Gurney - bar to GM 1983; Kenneth Howorth - 1983).

The team picked up the RTS award and Broadcast award for their coverage of the Beslan school siege and Alastair Stewart won the RTS Presenter of the Year award in 2006.

The accolades have come not only from Britain but from across Europe and the United States, where ITN's cutting edge journalism commands a high level of respect.

Home based issues including the miners' strike, the Iranianembassysiege, the Tottenham riots, the Kings Cross fire, the death of Labour leader John Smith and coverage of Dunblane have all been voted the best journalism of their year by the RTS.